We are excited to offer opportunities for an assistant practitioner to join our Community Dietetic team in Knowsley and St Helens.
The focus will be on management of malnutrition in the Care Homes and wider community.
This post will cover the Merseyside area of Knowsley and St Helens .
The base is at Whiston Primary Care and Resource Centre in Prescot with the opportunity for remote/hybrid working.
The post holder will be responsible for assisting in the delivery of the Service within the Dietetic Team, under the direction and supervision of a Dietitian.
The Post Holder will be expected to work in an innovative way to support the smooth running of the Service and will be required to offer individual and group activities alongside other Therapy staff and under the indirect and direct supervision of a qualified Dietitian.
Main duties of the job
To work effectively as a member of a team in providing a programme of therapeutic activities and interventions as directed by the Dietitian.
To actively engage service users in therapeutic activities to promote independence and well-being within a variety of secure environments.
The post holder will be required to facilitate 1:1 and group sessions where or when appropriate.
Support service users to attend and participate in sessions that promote recovery.
To provide an update and overview of service users participation, engagement level and skills following sessions.
To form professional relationships with service users and communicate with them in a way that respects their views, autonomy and culture.
To maintain a high degree of confidentiality.
Undertake delegated tasks to contribute to the safe and smooth running of the service.
To ensure that up to date written and electronic records are kept and recorded appropriately in accordance with Professional and Trust Standards.
About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Job responsibilities
To contribute to the delivery of a range of clinical and health promotion tasks under the direct supervision of the Dietitian.
To assist the Dietitians by being proactive in maximizing health and well being of service users by monitoring and reviewing service users on the wards and relaying their care plans and advice directly to service users and their carers and / or by telephone and email under the guidance of the Dietitians.
Participating in and developing health promotional activities and working with ward based staff to provide regular health promotion literature and presentations.
To report general observations and provide feedback to the qualified practitioner both verbally and in written formats as required. This should include any concerns arising from the service-users physical or mental health as appropriate.
To carry out physical /anthropometrical measurements such as weight, height, waist circumference or alternative measurements e.g. Hand Grip Strength and provide feedback to the Dietitian both verbally and in written formats, as required.
To contribute to the effective running of the service by providing and receiving information to/from other departments, e.g. catering department. Ensure this information is provided in the most effective way. i.e. telephone, fax, email or in writing.
To ensure care plans are effectively communicated to service users, relatives, carers and the multidisciplinary team.
To use a variety of verbal and non-verbal skills to overcome communication barriers presented by service users
To document assessments and reviews and care plans in service users medical notes according to Trust policy including uploading documents onto service users medical records as required.
To carry out specific duties that contribute to the assessment of service users healthcare needs as requested by the Dietitian.
As directed by the Dietitian, maintain and train ward staff to keep accurate charts that contribute to the assessment of a service users nutritional intake and associated physical conditions e.g. diet and fluid charts, weight, oral intake and hand over formally to qualified dietitian.
To prepare agreed assessment reports and treatment plans to assist the qualified practitioner with care planning.
To send out written dietary information leaflets to patients and staff as instructed by Dietitian.
To deliver the structured MUST training session to clinical staff on request.
Help with general admin duties, including developing resources as required.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care or equivalent level 5 qualification PLUS A levels and GCSE's or equivalents including functional skills level 2.
* Experience of working in a Dietetics Department
* Evidence of competency based development and role specific training and development
Knowledge/Experience
* Knowledge of health promotion and physical/psychological health care needs of service users
* Knowledge of developing meaningful activities in a care setting
* Experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary team
* Experience of working in a mental health setting
Values
* Accountability
* Support
* High professional standards
* Responsive to service users
* Engaging leadership style
* Transparency and honesty
* Discreet
* Change oriented
Skills
* Ability to maintain confidentiality
* Ability to supervise support workers
* Ability to work on own initiative and assist qualified practitioners
* Ability to work as a member of the team
* Flexibility
* Negotiation skills including the ability to manage aggression/difficult behaviour
* Possess a caring, compassionate and empathic attitude
* Access to a suitable means of transport to enable the post holder to commute across the Trust footprint
* Commitment to training and continuing development
* Professional attitude
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
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